Eggs, Bugs, and Beans

This post is inspired by an event my daughter hosted two days ago in her bedroom. I am kicking myself already for not getting pictures, but surely you will understand why. I was cleaning downstairs and Shaelana was watching a movie with a snack. While in another room, I heard her go upstairs, assumingly to play in her room like always. That was my first mistake...never assume anything with a toddler in the house...pure ignorance! After a few minutes up there, I heard her turn on the heater in her room so I immediately went up to turn it off and what I walked into was what resembled a chicken coop massacre.

She had managed to get an 18 count carton of eggs up the stairs, which still had 15 eggs in it and she EGGED her own room. Unbelievable. I was in a state of shock. There, in her freshly painted, newly decorated, brand new EVERYTHING pretty little room was 15 smashed eggs covering every surface but the ceiling. I didn't know whether to yell, laugh, cry or just walk away. The look on her face was priceless and I am certain mine reflected hers. A phone call to Brandon, a bath and a google search later I was off to conquer the mess. I learned that if you put salt on raw egg, it will absorb the goo and assist in cleaning it up so the pouring commensed! Almost 2 containers of salt, plenty of hot water, half a bottle of all purpose cleaner, 3 towels, 2 washcloths, ALOT of elbow grease and nearly an hour later - I managed to clean the mess. Wow.

I heard a great story that made me feel light hearted about the "event" that day. A medical scientist recently received a prestigious award and upon accepting it, he said he wanted to thank his Mom. He said his reason for thanking her all resorted back to one child hood memory when he had gone to the fridge, pulled out everything in it and spread a mess of things all over the floor. When his mother walked in and found the mess, her face went from looking like "she was going to eat me, to a smile". She then sat down in the floor with him, and they played and made designs in the messy kitchen floor. When he asked her why, later in life, she said it was because the mess had already been made, and had to be cleaned regardless, so why not take advantage of the moment and make a memory. And she did. While I didn't play in the egg mess with Shaelana, it did inspire me to try to look at all of the crazy moments differently and take the opportunity to see what positive things could come from it. In addition, my Mom reminded me that God uses many ways to teach us. In this instance, I feel that the lesson to be learned here is that it only takes a brief moment for something disasterous to happen. Possibly it was protection for us. In the time that it took her to have a little fun, a tragedy could happen. It makes me thankful, in an odd twist. I still wonder what inspired her to do that. Possibly her interest in cooking? Maybe a different form of art? Or possibly just found the crunching shell and slippery egg to be too much fun to stop at just one. No matter the cause, I decided that she needed a more acceptable creative outlet!

With that in mind, I took advantage of our surroundings and the next morning we spent some time exploring our own front yard. We discovered so many creatures and life forms and learned some fun things together.

A big slimy slug

Some mystery fruit budding on our tree in the front yard. I still can't figure out what it is...time will tell! I am excited for a fruit tree though!

Some big mushrooms near the hydrangeas

Some little tiny mushrooms near the steps

An earthworm. This guy was the most fun. Shaelana freaked OUT when I picked it up! She was screaming and covering her ears "I don't like the worm! I don't like the worm!" She warmed up to it enough to offer flowers and leaves for him to eat, but refused to touch it! So funny!

One of the many many species of spiders in our yard. On any given day, I promise you will see atleast 15 different types out there. As long as they stay off of us, we leave them alone.

A rolie polie! I loved these as a little girl. Shaelana didn't understand the fascination.

One of my 15 rose bushes in bloom. This one produces sweetheart roses, and I liked this bud.

Yesterday morning, for our daily project, we decided to do some low key crafts!

Her supplies.

Shaelana hard at work on her pretty picture.

The finished project! So fancy. Some of the noodles fell off when we moved it to take the picture. I am thinking liquid glue and flat noodles for the next one!

I have to say, though these little adventures are small, they are a wonderful part of our day. Best of all, Shaelana has been a better behaved child! Ofourse, I haven't replaced the eggs yet...so we will see if that lasts...

Ready Set Go!

Okay, so I am back...seriously this time! I finally got a new computer and I have ALOT of catching up to do. Over a years worth of time to be exact! I feel a bit overwhelmed at the idea of backtracking and trying to blog an entire year, in order, prior to blogging about what is going on in our life now so I have decided to just start with NOW. I am sure I will have that "catch-up" post to throw in there somewhere but not today lol!

So, a little update for any who don't know:

In January of this year, Brandon and I decided that more than anything, we were tired of waiting to move out of Arizona, so we just made the decision on where to go, and within 2 weeks of that decision we were on our way to Seattle, Washington!Talk about an awesome whirlwind of an experience and spontanaeity. We were hardcore. The most amazing part is, 8 months later, we are still blissful that we made the decision and it has proved to be a very good one for us in many many aspects of our life.

So here we are! But what are we doing? Well, Brandon was recently promoted from a medical billing specialist, to billing manager and then promoted again to practice manager for the doctor's office he is at! Awesome! I couldn't be more proud of him. He is such an amazing person and he works so hard to take care of us. Now he loves what he does and the people he works with have became friends, not just colleagues, so bonus for us!
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Shaelana is 2, closer to 3 now and she is growing way too fast! She is still a short and tiny thing, but what she lacks in size, she makes up for in attitude! Let me just say that having her in our life, there is rarely ever a dull moment. She loves to make us laugh. She adores singing and picks up on songs so quickly it amazes me. Dancing, horses, makeup, puppies, tea parties, Caillou, and Sid the Science Kid are a few of her most favorite things. She is a total rotten mess when she decides to be and there are days I wonder if we are going to make it until bedtime before I lose what little bit of sanity I had in the first place. She is sooo smart! She knows all of her body parts, names and sounds of many many animals, can recognize and point out several letters, can count to 10, tell you her full name, birthday, Mommy and Daddy's name, how old she is, and where she lives. She has a sign language vocabulary of over 60 words! She has been potty trained through the day since she was younger than 2, and at 2 and 4 months, has been completely potty trained through the night as well! Shaelana is just an incredible little joy in our life! I am one proud Momma! Can you tell? :0)

Lexie is nearly 8. She started 2nd grade this year, and is in Texas right now with her Mom, step dad, and brother, but they are in transition to be stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska! What an adventure for her! She is excited and says she "can't wait to live in the North Pole and see polar bears walking down the street"! I love the way kids think! Adorable! She is also became a Brownie this year!

As for me, I just turned 28. Wow. I swear the gray hair and wrinkles showed up the night of my birthday...LOL! I am a stay at home Momma still, but in addition, I have began an at home bakery. This came about purely by accident after I made Shaelana's cake for her first birthday, but I have to say, it is a ton of fun! I mostly do specialty cakes and occasionally home made breads, pies and other goodies. Who knew that something I liked doing for the creative aspects would turn into an income additive to our household? I am enjoying it though and now that we are good and settled here in Washington, I hope to rebuild my clientele. Sooner than later, I plan to have a blog for my cakes too, but one step at a time!

As I am composing this, I am realizing how much I missed blogging!!! It really is theraputic and feels good to get some thoughts and experiences out on "paper". Get ready to see alot of The Bell family on blogspot! We have bookoo's of pictures to post!